Karen welcomed the Government’s announcement today that Staffordshire will be one of eight councils that will be able to double the amout of free childcare for three and four year olds. Working parents in Staffordshire will no be able to get 30 hours of free child care, a year ahead of the scheduled plans.
Karen said:
“I’m pleased that Staffordshire is in the first group of councils to benefit - this will make it easier for parents to work. It’s all part of the Government’s commitment to make work pay.
The education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, said
“For too long, rising childcare costs have been a barrier preventing parents and particularly mothers from working. That’s why I’m delighted that in just a few months’ time, we will see the first families benefitting from the government’s offer of 30 hours’ free childcare for working parents.
“We have made a commitment to help working people, and through this extended offer we will help thousands more parents who want to return to work to do so.”
Karen added:
“I know how important childcare is from my own personal experience so I am glad that the government is helping people with their practical arrangements.”
Further information
The government is also looking at the issues that make it difficult for parents with particular challenges to access childcare, including Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
The core group of councils will be supported by 25 others, who will look specifically at innovative ways of making sure childcare is accessible to as many parents as possible.
Their experiences will then be used to support the full rollout in 2017, with the aim of removing significant barriers to parents taking up their entitlement.
All three- and four-year-olds are already entitled to 15 hours of free childcare a week, and this is also extended to the most disadvantaged two-year-olds. Last year, more than 1 million three- and four-year-olds, and 157,000 two-year-olds benefited from this offer.
The government is now going further than ever before, and will provide an additional 15 free hours to working parents of three- and four-year-olds from September 2017 – delivering on a key manifesto pledge
As part of this Government’s commitment to helping hardworking people, we will be investing more than £1bn extra per year by 2019-20 to fund the extension of the free childcare entitlement.
The Department for Education will also be piloting a new contract with councils, and consulting on a fairer funding formula for the early years, to help ensure that local authorities are passing the money on to providers, and that providers are given a fair rate.
The Department for Education ran an open competition to test how the 30 hours would work, and has chosen eight councils to offer this from September 2016.
Early Innovators in each local cluster will work together to focus on Special Educational Needs and Disability, flexibility, availability of places, and making work pay.
They include the Northern Powerhouse and rural areas where it can be difficult to organise childcare.